39 Front St Schenectady

David P. Forrest House

In 1731, Adam Vrooman’s body was returned from the Schoharie valley, where he had lived, and was buried on his pasture lot in a private burial ground that was located on the site of the David P. Forrest House.  The date of the removal of the burial ground has not been ascertained, but the lot of land was acquired by Forrest in 1851.  Forrest, an express agent, served as Deputy Clerk of Schenectady County in the 1840s, and is listed as living in a house at this location in city directories by 1857-58.

The house is a unique example in Schenectady of the Gothic Revival Cottage style made popular by Andrew Jackson Downing in the early 1850s.  A one-and-one-half story center gable cottage with a wood entry porch centered on the façade, the house is constructed of brick with a gabled roof with the ridge aligned parallel to the façade.  The cornice and rake bargeboards are decorated with wood carved in a curvilinear pattern reminiscent of Gothic tracery.  The center gable is echoed by peaked decorative trim above the first floor windows.  The pointed arch window in the center gable contains two lancet panels with a quatrefoil glazed panel above the lancets.  Porch posts, decorative trim, and railings are inspired by late Gothic or Tudor period architecture.